


A New Sound

by Ellessey



Series: Like a Song [3]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Neighbors, Birthday Party, Domestic, Explicit Sexual Content, Fluff and Humor, Former Idol Suga, Kid Fic, M/M, POV Alternating, Warm and Fuzzy Feelings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-02
Updated: 2020-01-02
Packaged: 2021-02-27 13:07:05
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,430
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22087618
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ellessey/pseuds/Ellessey
Summary: “Where did all this restraint come from?” Daichi asks, dragging his fingers slowly through soft, silver hair. Suga is seated between Daichi’s legs, leaning back against his chest and scrolling through party websites on his phone, hunting for just the right balloons.“I have plenty of restraint, Daichi.”“Generally, yes. But last week I thought you were going to fly off into the stratosphere on the wings of all your plans.”--Suga has big plans for his daughter's first birthday, and even bigger feelings about the family that has built up around them since she was born.
Relationships: Sawamura Daichi/Sugawara Koushi
Series: Like a Song [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1008381
Comments: 30
Kudos: 413





	A New Sound

**Author's Note:**

> A late Happy Birthday to Irides, who I wish every good thing for, and HAPPY DAISUGA DAY 2020!!!
> 
> If you haven't read the first part of the Like a Song series I would definitely hop over there before reading this! It takes place between _Like a Song_ and _Learning the Words._ Also just a heads up that while there is an explicit scene that I needed to rate for, you're mostly signing up for a whole lot of soft fluff here XD

Birthdays weren’t really a thing for Suga when he was growing up. Not a positive thing, anyway. There were just his cousins’ birthdays, which were loud and crowded with people he didn’t know, and his own, which were quiet and generally overlooked. Marked only by a muttered acknowledgment from his aunt that meant nothing, and eventually a hug and handmade card from Asahi that meant the world.

Once he’d joined Hikaru things changed, of course. There were crazy parties for some of the boys, and somewhat less crazy nights spent in the dorms for others. Just food and video games and music, for hours on end. It was madness and it was wonderful, and Suga thought he knew then why people loved these celebrations so much.

But then he had a baby. And then his baby’s first birthday was just weeks away. And then Suga lost his goddamn mind.

“ _No,”_ Daichi says, shaking his head in disbelief. “Why the fuck would we get ponies for a—”

“Yes!” Kuroo crows, cutting him off. The two of them are next to each other on Asahi and Suga’s couch, and Daichi leans away from Kuroo to protect himself from the sheer volume of his excitement. “Why _wouldn’t_ we get ponies, you killjoy. You wet blanket. You—”

“She’s turning _one._ She will give absolutely no shits whatsoever!”

“She loves animals! Are you trying to tell me she gives no shits about Yuki? _Yuki?”_

“Oh my God,” Daichi says, head in his hands. Suga would help him, because he’s pretty sure his dear sweet boyfriend has a headache building, but he’s currently laughing too hard. And also he was the one who suggested ponies in the first place, so he can’t just jump ship now.

“Listen, though,” he says, waving a hand at Kuroo so he’ll take it down a few notches and let Suga try to make some real progress. “We could do, like, a whole animal theme! With a petting zoo, maybe?” 

Daichi’s forehead creases in dismay, while Kuroo begins banging his fist against the side of Daichi’s knee. Usually he’s totally beyond words when he’s in this state, so Suga continues.

“Or! Oh oh oh, an animal theme, but specifically _farm_ animals! And Mai can wear _overalls!”_

Kuroo slaps a hand over his own mouth, and Daichi finally admits defeat and hangs his head.

“That’s not fair,” he says. “She’d be so cute in tiny overalls.”

“She will be so, so cute,” Suga agrees, beaming at Daichi, and then at Kuroo who is an excellent ally, and probably going to die the day of the party. “Are you in, then? _Operation: Baby Mai’s Birthday Bonanza_ is a go?”

“You know you’re being ridiculous, right? Like, can you just acknowledge that so I know you know?”

“I know,” Suga says sincerely. “I know she won’t remember it and I know even if we did nothing we could still have a great day. But _I’ll_ remember it, and I just... Daichi, I just really want to have a big stupid over-the-top party for her. I just do.” He doesn’t mean to cry when he says this, but his tears have never really stopped being overeager since Mai was born, and they spring up to prick at his eyes now. 

He’s just _so_ happy that he has this birthday to celebrate with his daughter and with Daichi, and that joy is far too big to be contained or expressed in a reasonable way. Right now, it feels like the only way it can be dealt with is through ponies, and bunnies, and maybe a live country band.

He doesn’t have to say any of this to Daichi, though. Deep brown eyes are already locked on his own, thoughtful and steady, and Daichi knows. He reaches to where Suga sits on the padded ottoman they use as a coffee table—taking Suga’s hand and smoothing his thumb over his palm in that comforting way that says he’s there, he’s next to Suga no matter what—and he nods his head.

“Okay,” he says. “Let’s throw Baby Mai the best damn farm party there ever was.”

“YES,” Kuroo shouts, just as Asahi steps through the front door with Mai on his hip. He clutches her tighter, eyes widened in alarm. 

“ _Kuroo,_ don’t scare me like that when I’m holding the baby! I could have dropped her!”

Daichi and Kuroo both snicker, because they all know Asahi would break every one of his bones before he let Mai get a single scratch, but Suga swallows his own laughter. Asahi is an angel, and besides, Suga's feeling too soft right now from Daichi’s hand holding his so warmly to be at his teasing best. He leans forward to brush a kiss next to Daichi’s lips before getting to his feet.

“Hello, my most precious dumpling,” he says, holding his hands out for Mai, and smiling when she immediately stretches chubby arms towards him. “Did you have fun with your uncles? Did you feed all the ducks?”

“She fed so many ducks,” Asahi says, kissing Mai’s head before she’s been shifted onto Suga’s hip. “The ducks won’t need to eat again for a week. Noya started chasing them down near the end because they were trying to get away from us.”

“Aggressive little philanthropists,” Kuroo grins, stretching decadently as he gets off the couch.

“Philanthropists help _people,_ Kuroo,” Asahi points out gently.

“Animals are people,” Kuroo says evenly, oblivious to Daichi pretending to throttle him from behind. He’s far too focused on leaning over to greet Mai, giving her a big goofy smile. “Baby Mai understands that, don’t you my little philanthropic genius.”

“Good chance she understands a hell of a lot more than you,” Daichi says, then he waves his hands as everyone opens their mouths to scold him. “I know, I know, language.”

“She’s going to be talking soon, you know,” Asahi tells him. “You need to take this seriously.”

“She seriously says nothing but dadadada, so I think we’re safe for now.”

Suga smiles. Mai says _dadada_ constantly, and though she doesn’t seem to have connected it with him yet, he loves just hearing the sounds. Knowing that sooner or later her little voice is going to call for him by name. 

“You need to get to work,” he says, nudging Daichi. This semester Daichi managed to get all his classes on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, so he’s free from school the rest of the week. But he does still have to head over to campus for his shift at the fitness center.

“What’s the likelihood of a hot popstar coming to visit me on my lunch?”

“I don’t think Tooru is in town?” 

“Not the one I’m thinking of. This one's shorter and less annoying.”

“Hajime?”

“Sugawara Koushi... stop being a shit and come have lunch with me.”

“ _Oh,_ you mean _me?_ You didn’t say ex-popstar.”

“That’s because you’re still a star to him, Suga,” Kuroo says, leaning over the kitchen counter to bat his eyelashes obnoxiously. 

“Is that what it is?” Suga asks, grinning at Daichi and his suddenly very pink cheeks.

“No. Yes. Why are you guys like this?”

“I love you,” Suga says, bumping his hip into Daichi’s.

“Mhm.”

“I’ll be there for your lunch break. With ramen.”

“What kind?”

“The spiciest. So you can taste me all nigh—”

“OH my God, look at the time Daichi you’d better go!” Asahi cuts in frantically, holding his hands over Mai’s ears. 

Daichi grins, pressing a kiss to Suga’s cheek since he’s giggling too much to be kissed on the lips. “Love you. And you,” he adds, knocking Asahi’s hand out of the way so he can kiss Mai’s cheek, too. 

“Ahem,” Kuroo says, coming around the counter and cocking his head so his cheek is presented to Daichi. 

Suga expects Daichi to flick or push him, but instead he leans right in and licks Kuroo’s cheek. Smirking proudly as Kuroo’s face crumples up in shocked disgust, and Suga almost chokes on his own glee.

“Gross! That was so _wet,_ you asshole, _”_ Kuroo whines, scrubbing his face vigorously with his sleeve. “Is that how you kiss Suga?”

“We are _not_ talking about how he kisses Suga right now. Or ever! Daichi you _really_ should go,” Asahi frets.

“He was asking for it,” Daichi counters.

“He was, yes, but you shouldn’t be late.”

“ _Harsh,_ Asahi,” Kuroo sniffs. “I didn’t come here to be insulted.”

“No, you came here to eat our food,” Asahi retorts, his benign tone making this second burn all the more satisfying.

“ _God,”_ Kuroo says, shifting so the homemade pork bun in his hand is hidden behind his back. “So called out by you today, Azumane.”

“That was amazing,” Daichi says. “Worth being late for.”

Suga has to agree, but he hurries Daichi out the door after that, and then says goodbye to Kuroo once he’s had his fill of Mai and meat buns.

It’s very quiet once it’s just Suga, Asahi, and Mai, aside from Mai’s occasional shrieks and bangs as she plays with a wooden shape sorter.

“Circle,” Suga says, holding up the round block and pointing to the corresponding hole. “Circle.”

“Aaagadaa,” Mai says, which could mean _cylindrical block_ for all Suga knows. He’s pretty sure there’s vast intelligence behind Mai’s massive cheeks and bright brown eyes. 

“I can’t believe she’s almost one,” Asahi says, visibly tensing when Mai takes a few unsteady steps towards a pile of books on the floor. “God, she makes me nervous.”

“She’s fine,” Suga smiles. “Her diaper’s like built-in padding.”

As if on cue, Mai wobbles too much and winds up dropping onto her bottom, then looking up at them and laughing madly. 

“Dadadada,” she says, pointing at nothing in particular.

“Definitely,” Suga agrees, giving her a big smile before turning to Asahi. “I can’t either. If I just start sobbing uncontrollably on her birthday, can you cover for me?”

“What if I’m sobbing, too?”

“A true predicament,” Suga says, and Asahi laughs softly. 

“Let’s agree to both keep it together. Did you decide what you want to do?”

“Everything. It’s going to be farm themed, and everyone’s going to wear overalls and feed goats and pet bunnies.”

“Wow, that’s uh…”

Suga waits, smiling at his sweet, sweet friend.

“That’s going to be perfect. Mai-chan loves animals.”

“I love you,” Suga says, and Asahi blushes, then throws himself across the room to prevent Mai from bonking into the padded arm of the couch. 

He’s ridiculous, but Suga is too, and he could not be happier to be planning his daughter’s birthday with a family that’s more than he ever could have hoped for. 

His phone pings and he unlocks it to see new messages from Daichi, who should definitely be working now.

 **Daichi:** this would step on your overalls idea but  
 **Daichi:** god i mean how cute  
 **Daichi:** _image attached_

The picture Daichi has sent is of a toddler wearing a custom made, farm themed first birthday outfit. The poofy skirt is patterned with adorable little sheep and cows, and edged with red gingham. The _one_ on the shirt is stitched on with coordinating gingham, and has more sweet, round animals peeking out from behind the letters. It’s really, terribly cute. Suga can just see it with baby sized cowboy boots, and he knows it’s ridiculous but he _does not care._

**Suga:** omg  
 **Suga:** daichi you’re ON BOARD  
 **Suga:** this is so cute i’m dying  
 **Suga:** d y i n g

 **Daichi:** she probably needs it

 **Suga:** she doesn’t, but god she does right??  
 **Suga:** how did you come to the dark side so quickly

 **Daichi:** -____-  
 **Daichi:** don't tell Kuroo i found it  
 **Daichi:** you know i’d do anything for our girl

Suga’s chest constricts in the most wonderful way every time Daichi says things like this. _Our girl_. Their girl. Their future.

 **Suga:** I know <3

Daichi sends a heart back, and Suga has to bury his face in his hands while Asahi smiles at him knowingly. 

He’s going to throw this great big party for Mai because he wants to give her everything, but he knows it’s _this,_ this steady support from Daichi and Asahi, this ache in his own chest every goddamn time he looks at Mai, that matters. This is what they give her, what they’ll always give her. And _this_ is why Suga’s heart is overflowing. This is why he needs bunnies and hay bales and pony rides. How else is he supposed to handle all this love?

* * *

Daichi vows not to stand in the way of whatever Suga wants Mai’s birthday to be, but in the end, Suga is actually pretty self-regulating. The guest list is limited to Hikaru, Daichi’s family, and a few friends they’ve made at the nearby park, with similarly round babies and toddlers. And of course the rest of the uncles: Asahi, Noya, Kuroo, and Kenma. They rent a space at Himonya Park, where there’s already a petting zoo and pony rides available, and Suga vetoes his own suggestion of a live band because he wants to keep the entire shindig at two hours max.

“Where did all this restraint come from?” Daichi asks, dragging his fingers slowly through soft, silver hair. Suga is seated between Daichi’s legs, leaning back against his chest and scrolling through party websites on his phone, hunting for just the right balloons.

“I have plenty of restraint, Daichi.”

“Generally, yes. But last week I thought you were going to fly off into the stratosphere on the wings of all your plans.”

Suga laughs, his back bumping into Daichi. “I want Mai to enjoy it as much as her little one year old self can. If it’s too long or too much then she’ll be miserable.”

“My wise boyfriend,” Daichi says, kissing the back of Suga’s head, then almost getting a fat lip when Suga suddenly and violently raises his head.

“Oh! Look at these, look at these!”

“Oh my God,” Daichi says, holding his mouth. “I will when I stop bleeding.”

Suga scrambles to turn around and face him, laughing and apologizing and tugging Daichi’s hand away so he can see his mouth. “You baby," he says once he's examined it "You’re fine.”

Daichi shakes his head. He’s totally fine, but they’re alone currently, and he’s not going to miss an opportunity for a kiss or two. Or more. 

“You need me to make it better?” Suga asks, because he is a good, good boyfriend, and he was the one who texted Daichi last night to complain about how goddamn long it’s been since he last saw Daichi naked. They’re coming up on finals again, and it’s been hard for them to get time together with everyone busy studying.

“Mhm,” Daichi nods.

“I found the _best_ balloons though.”

“You can definitely show me the balloons when Kuroo and Kenma get back with Mai-chan. Do you know what you _can’t_ do then?”

Suga shakes his head, eyes wide and innocent and popstar perfect. He’s a year out of the game now, but he’s still got it. “Please tell me, Daichi-san.”

God, it still kills Daichi when Suga calls him that, too. The way he tacks that _san_ on there. It’s all heat and promise, and they do _not_ have enough time for everything Daichi wants to do to him right now.

“You can’t take that sweater off,” Daichi says.

“This sweater?” Suga tugs at the wide neck of it, exposing a pale shoulder that’s literally irresistible. Daichi kisses it without even thinking, drawing Suga closer.

“Mhm,” he murmurs, lips pressed to the crook of Suga’s neck.

“I can take it off now, though.”

“Exactly.”

“What else can I do?”

Daichi grins against Suga’s skin, gently biting the side of his neck as his hands slip under the sweater to help take it off. 

They can’t do everything they want to, not before their friends get back from picking up groceries with Mai, but they can do this. They can strip off their shirts and kiss with their bare chests pressed together, their legs tangling as they stretch out on the living room floor. Daichi’s instead of Suga’s, but it doesn’t matter. They’ve made good memories on both at this point. 

“We could… change the locks,” Suga says, a little breathless now with Daichi underneath him, his leg slotted in between Suga’s.

“That would take ten times as long as having sex would,” Daichi laughs. “We could just go in my room and lock the door.”

“No, because then— _ah,”_ Suga breaks off when Daichi shifts, pressing harder into the heat between Suga’s legs. “Then we’d have to move, and this is… this…”

Daichi doesn’t mind that Suga never finds the words to finish his thought. That he becomes much too busy nipping at Daichi’s lips, gasping against them, finally moaning into a hard kiss when his legs clench around Daichi’s and he spills into his pants. 

“This was… supposed to stay PG-13,” Daichi tells him, burying his hands in Suga’s hair so he can feel the sweat-damp roots. 

“Then what the fuck were you doing with your R-rated thighs, Sawamura?”

Daichi almost laughs, but Suga is kissing him again with smiling lips, fingers brushing over Daichi’s stomach and then making quick work of undoing his jeans. 

“You better come as embarrassingly fast as I did.”

“Not embarrassing. We’ve been deprived.”

“Yes, we have,” Suga agrees, slipping Daichi free of his boxers and circling him with his warm hand. “Okay without lube?”

“Yes,” Daichi says. He could probably come soon just from having Suga’s hand on him, not even moving, but he doesn’t get the chance to test that theory. Suga is not just a good boyfriend, he’s the _best,_ and he’s already made the decision to forego the dry handjob and slip down between Daichi’s knees, taking him in his mouth instead. " _God,_ Koushi.”

Suga hums, kneading the insides of Daichi’s thighs with strong fingers that know exactly what they’re doing. That slip up high to spread Daichi open and tease at his entrance, while the heat of Suga’s mouth around his dick and the clever flicks of his tongue unravel Daichi in a hurry. 

“Koushi, you’re... I’m not gonna last, I’m—”

He’s gone, already. But Suga knew he would be and he’s ready, swallowing him down while his thumb presses against him, reminding him of what he’s missing. Of how good it will be the next time they’re really alone, when they can move inside each other again. Daichi fucking Suga slow and deep, the way he likes it. Suga eating Daichi alive, the way he loves. 

“So,” Suga says, tucking Daichi back into his pants while he lies there remembering how to breathe. 

“Do not start talking to me about Baby Mai’s birthday balloons right now,” Daichi says. “There’s still cum on your chin.”

Suga beams, snuggling up against Daichi’s side and allowing him to clean his face with a balled up shirt. 

“Listen though, Daichi.”

“What.”

“They’re _cow_ patterned.”

“No.”

“They really fucking are!”

Daichi shoves Suga away, then follows after him to tickle him and kiss his smile approximately a million times.

“How many cow balloons do you think we’ll need?” he asks, when he’s sufficiently smothered Suga with all the cuteness-induced fondness that was burning inside of him.

“All of them,” Suga says. His cheeks are bright pink, his hair spread out on the floor beneath him, grown out again so it’s wavy and unfairly gorgeous. He’s so fucking gorgeous.

“Okay.”

“Can you help set them up?”

“Yes.”

“Will you do anything I ask you?”

Of course he would, because Suga would never ask anything of him that Daichi wouldn’t be okay with. That certainty is the steady ground beneath his feet when Suga’s being particularly tsunami-like. There may be a hell of a wind around them sometimes, but he knows they’re not going to fall. 

“Yes,” he says, without hesitation. Not realizing until Suga’s eyes go wet and wide that Suga wasn’t already completely aware of this. “You _know_ that, Koushi,” he adds, running his fingers over the little mole next to Suga’s eye and down his cheek.

“I _do,_ but…” Suga bites his lip, then laughs and covers his face with his hands. “Then you just _say_ stuff like that, with your perfect honest face and I just... how the fuck am I supposed to deal with you, Daichi?”

Daichi shrugs, wrapping his hands around Suga’s wrists to pull him off his back. They need to get themselves cleaned up and put together, and Suga needs to stop being so cute so Daichi doesn’t have to be a blushing, useless loser in front of Kuroo when he returns. Kuroo _knows_ he’s a loser, of course, but they make it a point to catch each other being loser-ish as often as possible, and Daichi can’t let him win. 

“You should probably get changed and show me the cow balloons that I’ll be helping you set up.”

“There are matching table cloths.”

“Of course there are.”

“I love you a lot, boyfriend.”

Daichi tugs his shirt over his head so he can blush privately for a moment. He’s been dating Suga for almost an entire _year_ , and still this happens. This will probably always happen. 

He kind of loves that a lot, too.

*

“Daichi, my brother, my friend,” Kuroo says that evening. They’re slouched on the couch with textbooks on their laps. Kenma has gone back to campus, Suga and Mai are next door with Asahi, and he and Kuroo _should_ be studying. 

Instead, Daichi is wondering what the hell his roommate wants now. They already have a goddamn cat. 

“What.”

“You know, I'm not picking up on even a _hint_ of genuine interest there, bro.”

“Stop insinuating that we’re family. We’re not family.”

Kuroo widens his eyes as if he’s wounded and actually believes anything Daichi’s saying. “Wow.”

“What do you want, Kuroo?”

“I mean, nothing, I guess. I wouldn’t want to inconvenience this _stranger_ that I live with, so—”

“Oh my God, give me a break,” Daichi says, jabbing the eraser end of his pencil into Kuroo’s cheek. “Tetsurou, my most obnoxious, dramatic brother, _what_ do you want?”

Kuroo beams at him like a smug cat. Manipulative asshole. “Okay. So. As we all know, your daughter’s birthday is less than two weeks away.”

“She’s not my—” Daichi stops, because of course Mai isn’t his daughter, but she’s not _not_ his daughter, either. Not in his heart at least, which is... wow, God, just a whole new level of sappy. “Why can’t you just be normal for once?”

“And,” Kuroo says, like Daichi’s said nothing at all, “I really want to get her the very best present one can bestow upon the world’s cutest baby, _but…_ for the life of me I can’t think of anything better than Mamoru, and I already got that.”

As much as Daichi would like to argue this point, Mai really does fucking love that unicorn. She’s always sitting on him, and chewing on his horn, and napping on his legs. 

“Huh,” he says. “You could just wrap him up and give him to her again.”

“Great idea, Grinch. And then I’ll give you something you already own for _your_ birthday.”

“If it’s my blue sweatshirt that’s fine with me, because you _still_ haven’t given it back.”

Kuroo blinks at him, rather than acknowledge the truth of this statement. Daichi’s favorite old, oversized hoodie is perpetually slipped out of his closet and stolen away, even though the sleeves just barely fit Kuroo’s stupidly long limbs. Kuroo says the lining of it is the only thing that comes close to the softness of Mamoru, and he refuses to stop pilfering it, or even to give it back at all at this point.

“You have to help me, Daichi. I can’t let Baby Mai down. What are _you_ getting her?”

“I'm making her and Suga a photo album of her first year. And I guess I'll get some kind of toy? Since she won’t care about the album now.”

“God, Suga’s gonna love it though. Thoughtful Boyfriend Award for you,” Kuroo says, slapping Daichi’s chest. 

“What was that?”

“An imaginary gold star.”

“Oh, thanks.”

Kuroo nods, then sinks back into the couch. “I’m starting to panic.”

“It’s almost two weeks away.”

“You can’t rush genius, Daichi.”

Daichi could point out that Kuroo had no idea he was going to get Mamoru until he saw him in the store, but logic doesn’t work on Kuroo, so he doesn’t bother. He knows, after all, what Kuroo really wants here.

“Why don’t we just go shopping for her together? Maybe after class on Friday?”

“ _Oh,”_ Kuroo says, as if he hadn’t even considered this. “Yeah, why don’t we? That’s a good idea.”

“You still have to pick something yourself though.”

“I will!”

“And if someone thinks we’re dating I _will_ dropkick you right out of Babies R’ Us.”

“Fair, fair,” Kuroo says, sitting up straight now, looking very perky, and definitely like he’ll be an absolute asshat about it if someone mistakes them for boyfriends. It still happens fairly often, even when their actual boyfriends are right there with them, which makes it even funnier to Suga and Kenma. 

“Can you even believe it’s been a year since we were wandering around trying to figure out what the fuck you get a baby?”

“I mean, we’re still wondering that,” Kuroo points out helpfully. “So yeah, it’s pretty hard to believe we have a year of experience under our belts now.”

"But now it's just because we know Mai can play with a balled up piece of paper for an hour and be happy, so what can we even buy her?"

"The gods of the baby store will tell us."

"I hope so," Daichi says, but he's not really worried. Mai already has everything she needs. Suga’s beautiful eyes, a laugh that Daichi’s sure is making flowers bloom somewhere in the world every single time she lets it out, and a father who can teach her everything that matters. How to be fearless, how to be open. How to love so fiercely it’s like a whole new force of nature.

“What… are you thinking? Your whole face just got sappy as _hell.”_

“It didn’t,” Daichi says, flicking Kuroo’s ear. But it did, because he was thinking that Mai has _him,_ too. And just like he’d do anything for Suga, he’d do absolutely anything for her. He can’t wrap that up and hand it to her to shake and shriek over on her birthday, but it’s what he wants to give her, what he already _has,_ really. That promise that he wants to be there for all her birthdays, all her big days and small days, just like he has been from the start.

“I can literally see hearts in your eyes.”

“Whatever,” Daichi huffs, shoving Kuroo without any force. He actually kind of feels like his heart might explode at the moment, but that’s okay. He’s only the best kind of terrified when it comes to Suga and Mai. “I have a great kid.”

“ _Yeah_ you fuckin’ do,” Kuroo agrees. “And she has a great set of dads.”

“Not yet.”

“Pretty much.”

“Someday, though. For real.”

“I know,” Kuroo says, more seriously now. His crooked grin mellowing into a warm smile. “We all know.”

Daichi smiles back at him and doesn’t worry about the goddamn hearts in his eyes. Suga’s baby, _their_ baby, is turning one, and he’s allowed to be proud and sappy. He’s allowed to be ridiculous. He’s allowed to be hopelessly, endlessly in love with one small, beautiful girl, and one hot ex-popstar who _is_ still a fucking star to him.

He’s allowed to be this certain that everything he wants is right on the other side of one thin apartment wall. A little hiccuping laugh, and a clear voice rising in a song that Daichi knows by heart. 

* * *

 **Suga:** come put our little peach to bed with me?

 **Daichi:** peach?

 **Suga:** she’s wearing that hilarious orange jumpsuit Noya got her

 **Daichi** : I *think* that was really for Asahi, because it very much does not blend in with anything in your apartment

 **Suga:** ah...no camouflaging

 **Daichi:** exactly

 **Suga:** I love noya

 **Daichi:** he’s a good one  
 **Daichi:** and i’ll be right over

 **Suga:** good :))

Suga sets his phone down, and laughs at the look of deep consternation Mai’s directing at him, because he dared to stop singing again.

“I had to talk to Daichi!” he says. “You want him to tuck you in, right? Daichi?”

Mai’s face lights up like a tiny sun, like it always does at the mention of Daichi, and she makes a sound that’s akin to a seagull. She can’t _say_ actual words yet, but she definitely knows some of them. If she’s asked to, she can point to a book, or a ball, or the cat. If someone says Daddy, she knows that means Suga, and if someone starts getting her ready for bed, she knows that means Daichi should be on his way to kiss her forehead and tell her stories.

“He’ll be here soon. Let’s go get your jammies on, okay?” Suga says, scooping Mai up to fly her over to their room. 

It looks about the same now as it did when he first brought Mai home from the hospital, but with slightly larger baby clothes folded in the dresser drawers, a bigger size of diaper tucked in the baskets on top of it. There's also often some article of Daichi's clothing, because he usually spends the night when he doesn't have class the next morning, and he's still a domestic disaster. 

The shirt he was wearing yesterday is on the floor by the bed. His socks are balled up in the corner. Suga could clean them up, but Daichi always does it eventually, apologetically and adorably, and Suga likes seeing little signs of him scattered around anyway. They're homey and comforting, and the shirts always smell _so good._

"What? I missed the jumpsuit?"

Suga turns from where Mai is wriggling on the bed, trying to make it as difficult as possible to get her legs into the bottom of her sleeper, to see Daichi in the doorway. He's changed out of the jeans and henley he was wearing earlier, into an old t-shirt that's slightly too small, and sweat pants that hang low on his hips. It's enough to make Suga thirsty all over again. 

"It was making my eyes hurt," he says, triumphantly pulling up Mai's zipper while she's distracted by Daichi's arrival.

"Okay, so speaking of bad gifts… what should Kuroo get for Mai’s birthday? I’m afraid if I don’t intervene she’ll end up with Mamoru Part Two, and I don't know where you'd even put that.”

“Oh my God, no. I love Mamoru but... something small. Or nothing at all. We really don’t need anything, I just want to have everyone together on her birthday.”

“Plus ponies.”

“Well Daichi, you can never go wrong with ponies.”

"Never."

Suga nods decisively and watches Daichi swing Mai up into the air, spinning her around in shrieking circles before dropping onto the bed with her. 

“Aaahdadadaa,” she says.

“No more, I’ll get dizzy.”

“That’s of no concern to her,” Suga points out.

“Sure it is. You don’t want me to be all queasy and useless, do you Baby Mai? Then how am I supposed to read that bunny book you’ve only heard three hundred times?”

“You’re supposed to correct me and say she doesn’t want you to be dizzy for selfless reasons.”

“Oh, sorry. I’m sure there’s that, too. I can see it in her eyes. Her deep concern for my welfare.”

“The deepest,” Suga says with a solemn nod. Mai is ignoring both of them as she’s now focused on trying to get as much of the bunny book into her mouth as she possibly can. It’s a cloth book, so she’s quite successful. 

Eventually they get her settled down between them on the bed, eyelashes fluttering towards round cheeks more and more frequently as Daichi reads to her slowly, his deep voice easily carrying her into a quiet, dreamy state. 

By the third book she’s out, but Suga is feeling restless and awake. Something about the approach of Mai’s birthday is bringing back so many memories, so many feelings from a year ago at this time. The fear of saying goodbye to Hikaru, of telling Asahi how much things were about to change. Of having Mai and not being enough for her, of being only what he had as a child.

It seems strange, in a way, that it’s only been a year since then. That in so little time, so much fear has been lifted away, and so much certainty built up in its place.

“Suga?” Daichi asks, carefully pulling his hand out from where it rests under Mai’s arm to brush his fingers over Suga’s. “Alright?”

“I… am great. I’m very good.”

“Okay?” Daichi’s smile is questioning and certain at once, and Suga _loves_ this, this thing Daichi does. Even when he’s not really sure what Suga’s talking about, it’s like he always trusts, before he’s given an explanation, that it makes sense. There’s never a doubt that if something is real to Suga, that’s enough for him.

“This time last year, I hadn’t met you yet,” Suga says. 

“Ah.” Daichi’s smile goes soft and just the tiniest bit shy, like he’s stepping back in time too, to when they were strangers. When they were just trying to figure each other out with searching eyes and hands longing to touch. “We were very close to it though.”

“And we didn’t know it. Isn’t it crazy? Doesn’t life just blow you away sometimes?”

It blows Suga away frequently. How did his life change so much from where he started to where he is now? How do people like Daichi and Asahi exist? How is Mai _so beautiful?_ How can he bear how much he loves her sometimes? How—

“Suga, hey.” Daichi has lifted his hand to Suga’s face now, his thumb stroking along his cheek. “You’re getting that look.”

“Which one?” Suga asks, though he can imagine. Usually when his thoughts are really starting to swirl his whole body feels a little wired, a little desperate for a place for everything to go. It’s why he dances, why he sometimes sings at the top of his lungs. It’s why—

“Like you need your headphones.”

Yes, that. It’s why when he’s scared, or he’s angry, or he’s so goddamn full and happy he’s bursting with it, he needs a little noise.

“Listen with me?” he asks. 

Daichi nods, already leaning over him to pull Suga’s heavy headphones off his nightstand, and a smaller pair of earbuds from the top drawer. There’s a splitter in easy reach, and soon there’s a thundering in Suga’s ears, a growl rising above it, and Daichi meeting his eyes over Mai sleeping soundly between them. 

“I love you,” Suga mouths to him.

Daichi smiles and reaches over Mai again, pressing his palm against Suga’s heart to say the same. 

In a couple hours Mai will wake back up, because that’s been her _thing_ for the past week or so. But for now she is peaceful. She is not quite a year old. She is spoiled in the very, very best way. 

And so is Suga. 

*

In the end, _Baby Mai’s Birthday Bonanza_ is as wonderfully chaotic as anyone could have expected. The cow patterned balloons, interspersed with bright primary colors and arranged in helium filled bundles around their reserved pavilion, are even cuter than Suga hoped. Mai’s birthday outfit—the gingham edged skirt Daichi found, paired with a personalized onesie and a soft gingham headband peeking out of Mai’s short, dark curls—nearly sends every one of the party guests into cardiac arrest. Especially once she’s been carefully settled on the back of a pony, with Daichi supporting her, and her resulting wonder and joy is more satisfying than Suga can even bear. 

“Not a bit of fear in that one,” Daichi’s father says, beaming over at Mai. “Would have pissed my pants if someone stuck a horse in front of me at that age.”

“You would have pissed your pants anyway, you were in diapers,” his wife points out blandly, slipping an arm around Suga’s shoulder as she comes to stand beside him. 

He’s only seen Sawamura Katashi and Atsuko a few times since they first met back in September, but both of Daichi’s parents are just as welcoming and easy as he is. Just as candid, and just as generous with their hearts. Katashi also tells such spectacularly terrible dad jokes that Suga can only hope Daichi will carry on the tradition.

“Definitely no guarantee she isn’t pissing at this very moment,” Suga agrees, and Asahi groans from somewhere to his left. “It’s _true,_ Asahi.”

“That’s not what he _meant,_ though. He just means she’s brave.”

“Oh?” Suga blinks at him, holding back his grin when Atsuko snorts softly and squeezes Suga’s shoulder. “I misunderstood.”

“It’s alright,” Atsuko says. “You’re a handsome boy, you’re allowed to be dumb.”

“You misunderstood as well, my dear,” Katashi points out.

“Suga’s ability to willfully misunderstand things is second only to mom’s,” Daichi says, coming to join them now that Tooru and Hajime are walking along with Mai and her pony, Hajime’s hands circling her waist to keep her in place. 

“An honor,” Suga says. 

“If I live to see you surpass me, that’s all I can hope for.”

“Oy, you’re missing our grandbaby becoming an accomplished equestrian right before our eyes,” Katashi scolds them mildly.

Mai, in fact, is now being lifted from the pony’s back by Tooru, because he couldn’t get her to stop trying to eat its mane.

“Either your baby is teething or she’s got some weird vitamin-deficiencies, Kou-chan,” Tooru calls to him.

She _is_ teething, and probably also hungry, so before long all the children (and overgrown children—specifically Kuroo, Koutarou, and Shouyou) are wrangled away from the ponies and over to the tables full of finger foods and cupcakes. 

“Isn’t eating eggs at a farm animal themed party kind of… wrong?” Kuroo asks before popping a devilled egg in his mouth.

“ _Please_ tell me you know the eggs we eat are unfertilized,” Kei says, looking up from his plateful of sliced strawberries topped with cream to shoot Kuroo an incredulous look. “They’re not... baby chickens.”

“I’m _aware,_ Glasses-kun, but—”

“Can someone please take a photo of Iwa-chan at this _exact moment?”_ Tooru interrupts sharply. “Now, now, quick!”

Suga looks around until he finds Hajime crouched on the ground near the petting zoo, one fluffy chick nestled in his palm, and several others bobbing around nearby.

“Where’s your phone?” he asks, pulling his own from his back pocket and zooming in on Hajime and his feathered friends. 

“One cannot fit a phone in the pockets of overalls such as these,” Tooru sniffs. His overalls are indeed skintight and entirely useless, but they fit comfortably inside his fashionable cowboy boots, and the teal stitching matches the bandana tied in his perfectly coiffed hair. 

Everyone else is dressed in jeans and button downs, with bright bandanas around their necks. Daichi’s is dark blue, bold against his crisp white shirt. He’s joined Hajime now, laughing when Hajime gets pooped on by the chick, then yelping when a goat in the pen behind him nibbles at the back of his pants.

“Aaaahdada,” Mai coos, reaching for the goat now that it’s peeking its head out from behind Daichi. 

“Did she just call him Dada?” Tooru asks, bumping his hip into Suga’s. 

“The goat?”

Tooru bumps him again harder. “Your _husband.”_

“Boyfriend.”

“Sure, whatever.”

“I’m going to teach her to call you poopy-pants, would you like that?”

Suga has to run before Tooru can physically express how much he wouldn't like that, darting over to where Asahi is now holding Mai’s hand, next to Daichi and the goats.

“Don’t trust them,” Daichi advises.

“I don’t,” Asahi says, keeping Mai’s hand tight in his so she can’t quite reach the goat straining over the fence of its pen. 

“Goooo!” she cries, and then there's complete silence. When she repeats it, her little voice is lost by everyone around her simultaneously losing their shit.

“Was that really it?” Suga asks over the shit losing. “Was that her first word?”

“Go!” she says again, reaching for it. “Go! Go!”

“I… think so,” Daichi says. “Here, Mai-chan, the one on the other end is less nippy.”

“She said goat!” Asahi says for the fourth time, teary eyed as he lets Daichi lead Mai over to a round, gray goat.

“Fucking _goat,”_ Suga laughs. “The goat came before me!”

“Language,” Daichi calls back to him with a grin.

“A _frigging_ _goat,_ Daichi!” Suga corrects himself loudly, following after so he can watch Mai patting the gray goat’s head, beaming at it with all the adoration in the world. “You sweet, weird little baby. What did you find? Is this a goat?”

“Go!” Mai says, nodding her head. “ _Go,_ Dada!”

Suga's heart stops, then resumes beating like a kick drum. "Did you…"

"Dada, dada! Go!" Mai says again, reaching for Suga and pulling him closer to the goat.

"Go on Dada, pet the goat," Daichi says, beaming at both Suga and Mai like they've accomplished something amazing, which it feels like they have. 

"She—"

"I know."

"I'm…"

"Yes,” Daichi confirms, kneeling down in the grass with a space between himself and Mai for Suga to fit into. 

“What’s this?” Suga asks her, brushing his fingers over the curious goat’s nose. 

“Go!”

“Yes!

“What’s this, Mai-chan?” Daichi asks, putting his hand on top of Suga’s head. “Who’s this?”

“Dada!”

“Good girl, that’s right. Goat and Dada,” Daichi tells her, and Suga cries and laughs while the goat tries to eat his hair, and Mai tries to eat the goat. Or kiss it, it’s hard to tell.

Eventually the party draws to an end and they head home with Hikaru in tow, cramming into the kitchen and living room to visit while Mai sleeps on Koutarou’s shoulder. Koutarou’s typically wide eyes are extra round as he tries not to even breathe so she won’t be disturbed. 

“Kid could sleep through a hurricane, bro, you’re good,” Kuroo tells him, wedging himself onto the edge of the couch beside Tooru and Tobio. Shouyou is hanging over the back, playing with Mai’s fingers where they rest on Koutarou’s neck, and Kenma is perched on the arm of the couch, watching her fondly. He’s come a long way from the days when Mai’s crying made him jump, but his favorite Mai is still a sleeping Mai. 

“Remember when you were scared shitless to hold her?” Daichi asks Kuroo.

“She was the size of a muffin then!”

“True,” Daichi allows.

Mai is certainly much sturdier now, and spectacularly crabby when she wakes up from her nap, until they set her down on the floor with a stack of gifts in front of her. Suga requested no presents on the party invitations, but all of Hikaru ignored that completely, so they’re now joyfully showering her with beautiful books, designer baby clothes, and an extensive collection of silky-furred plush farm animals.

The goat is clearly her favorite, and she holds it to her cheek once she’s been scooped into Suga’s lap to look through the photo album Daichi gave them. Suga has already cried quite a bit today, so he does his very best to make it through this dry-eyed, but it’s nearly impossible. Daichi has compiled all the best pictures they’ve taken on their phones over the last year and had them printed in a book that runs from the first photo Suga took of newborn Mai in a soft hospital cap, to a shot from a couple weeks ago. Eleven month old Mai asleep on Kuroo’s lap, with Yuki asleep on hers. 

“This is... incredible,” Suga says, when they’ve finally made it all the way to the end, which took an eternity because _everyone_ was trying to see it at the same time. Calling out with excitement whenever they saw themselves on the pages. Daichi made sure to include photos of each of their friends with Mai, so everyone she loves, everyone they love, is a part of this first chapter of her story. “Thank you so much.”

Those words are inadequate, but he squeezes Daichi’s hand and presses his forehead to Daichi’s temple, and he knows he’ll be understood. He knows that at some point, when it’s just the two of them for a little while, he can show Daichi how insanely grateful he is for him. 

“This is, I’ll admit, a pretty stellar gift,” Kuroo says. “However... I thought long and hard about my own gift for Baby Mai, and I _think_ I came up with a pretty good one.”

“Where... is it?” Suga asks, looking around at the torn wrapping paper left on the floor.

“Kuroo, why isn’t it here?” Daichi asks sternly. “Was it too big to wrap? We can’t _fit_ another—”

“Calm yourselves, ye of little faith! It’s too _small_ to wrap, in fact.”

“You can’t give Shouyou to the baby, Kuroo,” Suga says, and Shouyou squawks before leaning over Tobio to pinch Suga’s nose. “Noya-san is smaller than I am!”

“I’m not! I’m taller!” Noya argues, springing up from where he’d been curled on Asahi’s lap. 

He’s not taller, and they all know this because they measured the last time Hikaru was here. Noya just refuses to accept that the height of his hair actually counts for nothing. 

“Ha!” Shouyou crows, once he’s been proven right once again.

“You’re _three centimeters_ taller,” Tobio chides. “Like it matters.”

Shouyou looks ready to be offended, but Tobio pulls him back down to sit in front of him, his head resting perfectly on the top of Shouyo’s head, and the little redhead just looks pleased instead. 

“If we could, please?” Kuroo says, once order has been more or less restored. This only sets them all off again, everyone good naturedly goading him to get on with it, but eventually it’s peaceful enough for him to reveal his gift. “Okay. So. Daichi and I talked about it a lot, and I realized that there’s really nothing Mai-chan needs. Or, I guess, the only thing she really needs is _us,_ and she’s definitely got that.”

That is true, and the thought of Daichi and Kuroo discussing it together is making Suga’s chest incredibly warm, but he has no idea where Kuroo’s heading with this. He shoots a look at Daichi, but Daichi just shrugs.

“So! Instead of getting a thing that she doesn’t need, I wanted to keep giving her more of the thing that she _does._ Specifically, in the form of a zoo membership, so we can take turns spending time with her and teaching her all the animal names. And Suga and Daichi... you guys can stay home and meet some of your needs, too.”

“Oh... my God,” Suga says, while everyone else processes that, Tooru shrieks with delighted laughter, and Asahi hides his face in his hands. 

“It’s a gift for everyone!” Kuroo cries. “It’s good! Isn’t it good?”

Before Suga can assure him that it’s actually the sweetest most wonderful thing Kuroo could possibly have come up with, Daichi has grabbed Kuroo by his shirt to pull him into a rough hug.

“You dumbass, _yes_ it's good. You made me walk around shopping for toys for _two hours,_ and you had this up your sleeve the whole time?”

“No! I thought of it when we were talking on the train home! It’s fucking genius, right?”

“Language,” Kenma says, slipping his hand into Kuroo’s once Daichi’s released him (and slapped his head for good measure). “It was a very good idea, Kuroo. I’m impressed.”

Kuroo beams with pride and starts making plans with Kenma to take Mai zoo-adventuring the next weekend, and everyone else starts to spread out now that the gift-giving is complete, most of them eventually drifting next door for video games and cold pizza.

“I think there’s hay in my shirt,” Daichi says, rolling his shoulders to try to shift it before leaning back on the blessedly empty couch. Only Asahi, Keiji, Kei, and Tadashi are still here, and they’re playing quiet games of shogi at the table, while Mai sleeps soundly in bed. 

Suga definitely has hay in his pants after all the time they spent taking pictures on the artistically arranged hay bales, and then the hay fight that followed and left them all thoroughly disheveled. And sneezing, in Hajime's case. 

"I think… it was worth it."

"Definitely,” Daichi agrees. “A good birthday bonanza."

"She had fun, huh?"

"We all did," Daichi says, pulling Suga against his side. "Did it feel good, having everyone together?"

Of course Daichi understands that it was never really about the balloons or the ponies. It was about their family, all choosing to be there because Mai matters to them. Because they all matter to each other. 

"It felt… really good. I love how loved Mai is."

"Not just Mai."

Suga smiles, resting his head on Daichi's shoulder. "You, also."

"Mm, and you."

"I can't pronounce _goat_ nearly as incorrectly and adorably as Mai though."

"You have other things going for you."

"My ability to willfully misunderstand things?"

Daichi laughs and ruffles Suga's hair. "Yeah, that's it."

There's a half-formed thought in Suga's head about how skilled he is at stretching a game of shogi out so long that Daichi doesn't even want to play anymore, but Daichi is stroking his hair gently now, and he doesn't wind up saying anything at all. He just feels the heat of Daichi's neck under his cheek, and thinks hazily of cupcakes and goats and his daughter calling out his name. 

He’s always thought Mai’s voice sounded like music, but until today he had no idea he was waiting all this time to hear his favorite song.

* * *

Daichi has grown accustomed to all kinds of sounds coming from the other side of his bedroom wall. Suga singing, Mai crying. The machine gun drums of metal played too loud, the soft thud of feet when Suga dances. 

Now, there’s a new sound. Mai calling for Suga by name, even when Suga is right beside her, because after two weeks of this she still loves the response she gets. 

It’s hard to remember a time when this very concept—a baby chattering away in Asahi’s apartment—would have seemed bizarre to Daichi. Time’s funny that way, with one stretch of months managing to feel like it contained years, and like it lasted only seconds, all at once. He thinks the way he feels when he tries to comprehend this is something like Suga feels when he says life blows him away. Daichi never really realized what a beautiful storm life is until he met Suga.

There’s a deliberate tapping on his wall and he smiles, setting his laptop aside and picking up his phone instead.

 **Suga:** Daicho  
 **Suga:** Daichi  
 **Suga:** Sawamura Daichi  
 **Suga:** look at your phone :/  
 **Suga:** if you force me to actually call you…

 **Daichi:** hello koushi

 **Suga:** hello :))

 **Daichi:** do you need something?

 **Suga:** you may not have noticed, but there’s a rainbow outside and you should definitely kiss me under it

 **Daichi:** i did not notice  
 **Daichi:** didn’t know kissing under rainbows was a thing people did either

 **Suga:** well we’ll never do it if you don’t get your ass in gear

 **Daichi:** is Mai coming for cheek kisses as well?

 **Suga:** Mai has roped Asahi into reading the color book to her over and over until he dies

 **Daichi:** the one that’s literally just a color on each page?

 **Suga:** 8)

 **Daichi:** how many times have you read it today suga?

 **Suga:** 8))))

 **Daichi:** let’s go get you kissed

 **Suga:** ＼(＾▽＾)／

Suga is already waiting for him in the hallway, and they walk together down several flights of stairs until they reach the building’s back entrance, and the little landing where they still find themselves on quiet evenings. 

This is a particularly perfect one, with the air damp and fresh, carrying the scent of just fallen rain. The sky just bright enough still to see a piece of the rainbow arching over them between buildings.

“Do we need to make a wish or something?” Daichi asks, slipping his arms around Suga to pull him close enough to kiss.

“A wish?” 

Daichi shrugs. “I don’t know what rainbow kisses entail.”

“Let’s make wishes then. If we wish for the same thing, it’ll come true.”

“I think that would be a result of us making the same decisions, and not—”

“Shut _up,_ ” Suga laughs, cupping the back of Daichi’s neck and kissing him quiet with soft lips that taste like lemonade. 

Daichi doesn’t make a specific wish, he just lets images fill his mind while he breathes Suga in. The two of them next to each other, wherever they go, and Mai always dancing around them. He thinks there’s a very good chance that Suga’s wish is the same, and an even better chance that he’s right, and they don’t need rainbow wishes to make it happen. They just need the choices they make every day. The way they feel each time they look at each other.

“Suga…”

“Hm?” Suga asks, stepping back so they can see each other in the dimming light, just a hint of color still painted above them.

Daichi isn’t actually sure what he wants to say, and not even sure he needs to say anything. He takes Suga’s hand and tugs him down to sit beside him on the top step, the warmth of his body pressed against Daichi’s side. “Nothing, really,” he says. “I just… I want this.”

“Me too,” Suga says.

“Like… always.”

“Daichi?”

Daichi’s heart starts to race at the soft surprise in Suga’s voice and the implications of what he just said. They’re... completely founded, but that isn’t where he’s heading right now. Not quite yet. 

“I just mean—I mean, I _do_ mean that, when we’re ready.” He’s already ready. He already knows Suga and Mai are it. “I want to—once I graduate, I want to… I think you already know this.”

Suga’s smiling now, brighter than any wishing rainbow. “I think... we have the same wish.”

“The same plan.”

Suga nods, lacing his fingers through Daichi’s and squeezing tight. “That’s what I want, too.”

“Okay,” Daichi says, a little breathless even though this was already there, soft and unspoken in all their little daily routines. All their casual statements about a future that always holds them in the same place. “Okay, good.”

“I’ve been thinking, with that in mind…”

“Yeah?”

“I think it’s kind of dumb that we call you Daichi, with Mai.”

Daichi becomes slightly more breathless.

“I didn’t want to make you uncomfortable, but if we’re—I mean I don’t think it _would,_ and I think... it just makes sense, doesn’t it? That you’d be—”

“Daicho?” Daichi asks, so he doesn’t get more emotional than he can handle, and so Suga’s smile will curve up so beautifully and fondly.

“Papa,” Suga says. “Since Dada’s already taken.”

“That’s… I’d…” 

It didn’t work. He’s very emotional. He’s _fine_ being Daichi to Mai, he really is. He’s fine being _anything_ to her, but…

“I think it suits you,” Suga says, the last bits of sunset light catching on his eyelashes. It’s nice that he’s crying too. 

Daichi just nods and buries his face in Suga’s hair, their hands still clasped together. 

It doesn’t matter what Mai calls him, but the fact is—even if they’re just twenty-one, even if Mai doesn’t share his DNA, and no one has gotten down on one knee yet—they’re a family. They’re always going to be a family. 

He doesn’t need a wish to tell him that, but he kisses Suga once more under the ghost of a rainbow. Making a promise, this time, that he’ll be there for all of Suga’s big ideas, and all of the ones that Daichi doesn’t quite understand, but loves finding his way around. The over the top parties, and the soft, starlit nights just listening to the world falling asleep, hand in hand. 

A promise that he’ll make this choice over and over again. 

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to Ess and RC for looking over this for me, and thank you for reading!! I'm [ellessey_](https://twitter.com/ellessey_) on Twitter, and you can find the rest of my AO3 DaiSuga works [here](https://archiveofourown.org/works?utf8=%E2%9C%93&commit=Sort+and+Filter&work_search%5Bsort_column%5D=revised_at&work_search%5Brelationship_ids%5D%5B%5D=836528&work_search%5Bother_tag_names%5D=&work_search%5Bquery%5D=&work_search%5Blanguage_id%5D=&work_search%5Bcomplete%5D=0&user_id=Ellessey).


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